A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky.
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Friday, September 16, 2016

Unsafe building conditions leave rural Ohio town without a post office

The 898 residents in the village of Wayne, Ohio (Best Places map), have been without a post office for more than six weeks, Victoria Dugger reports for the Sentinel-Tribune in Bowling Green. Poor conditions of the post office building, including a gas leak, mold and a vermin infestation, led health and safety inspectors to force operations to be temporarily suspended on Aug. 1.

"Rural carriers are still delivering mail to residences, but delivery is said to be coming much later than usual," Dugger writes. Residents say the closure forces residents to drive to nearby Bradner, located about 2-1/2 miles from Wayne's post office. While the distance is short it is still an inconvenient trip for many to make during business hours. Wayne business owner Jeanette Heinze told Dugger, “It is a big disservice. We still mail in the outgoing (box) but you still can’t buy stamps or mail a package. For that you drive to Bradner. People aren’t getting invoices; things are all mixed up."

The post office closure also has affected the Brader Post Office. In addition to the 300 post office boxes it has for local residents, it has to accommodate additional mail for Wayne residents, Dugger writes. Barbara Potter, postmaster for Bradner Post Office, told Dugger, “We are trying to get rotary boxes by the end of the week for 24-hour access to mail." (Read more)

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This blog generally follows traditional journalistic standards. It's not about opinions, though you may read one here occasionally. It's about facts that we think will be useful to rural journalists, non-rural journalists who do rural stories, and others interested in rural issues. We don't try to be provocative, so we don't generate as many comments as most blogs with the level of traffic we have, but we certainly invite comments -- and contributions, to al.cross@uky.edu. Feel free to republish blog items, with credit to us and the original source.